George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced today that he will put an extra £2bn into frontline health services across the UK. NHS Campaigners in Tameside says that this is a fraction of what is needed to rescue the NHS. They are also concerned that the arrival of management consultants Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) to Tameside Hospital, will lead to a reduction or even cuts in what is already offered to Tameside residents.
PWC say: Some of you may be aware that Monitor (the healthcare regulator) has appointed Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) as the Contingency Planning Team to review plans to better integrate the hospital with GPs, community health and social care.
We would like to hear your views on the proposed integration care model for health and social care and to help achieve this, Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC), have set up Care Design Groups to help build a better understanding and to develop the way services might look and operate using an integrated care model.
Milton Pena, retired Tameside Hospital consultant commented that PWC were called in in 2011. “Then they wanted to make 0.8m ‘efficiency savings’ or cuts across all services in the hospital. It was only because of the Keogh report that this did not happen.”
Tameside Keep Our NHS Public see this as PWC asking local people to be involved in a process that may lead to cuts. Recent Research in the Health Journal shows that this model of integrated care is unlikely to deliver improved services without extra funding: “There is a myth that providing more and better care for frail older people in the community, increasing integration between health and social care services and pooling health and social care budgets will lead to significant, cashable financial savings in the acute hospital sector and across health economies. The commission found no evidence that these assumptions are true.”
Tameside KONP calls for the end of privatisation of the NHS. It calls on the management of Tameside Hospital, the local CCG, Tameside Council and local MP’s to have a frank and open debate about the future of Tameside Hospital.